Volume 78 / Number 5 - July 2 - July 8, 2008
West and East Village, Chelsea, Soho, Noho, Little Italy, Chinatown and Lower East Side, Since 1933

Police Blotter

Homicide arrests
Police arrested two young Brooklyn men on Thurs., June 26, in connection with the June 24 shooting death of a teenager in front of 206 Eldridge St. near Rivington St.

Ricardo Martinez, 23, was charged with second-degree murder and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon, and Willi Adanes, 19, was charged with first- and second-degree manslaughter and weapons possession for the fatal shooting of Vincent Cruz, 17.

The victim, a resident of 40 Rivington St., was shot once in the head at 2:10 a.m. Tues., June 24, after an earlier argument over a girl, police said.

Martinez was being held without bail pending an Aug. 5 court date, and Adanes’s bail was set at $200,000 cash and $300,000 bond pending the Aug. 5 court appearance, according to the office of Robert Morgenthau, Manhattan district attorney.

Slams into vanGerardo Gutierrez, 49, of Queens, was driving on Sixth Ave. near Canal St. at 11:55 p.m. Fri., June 20, when he crossed the yellow line and rammed into a traffic agent’s van on Sixth Ave., police said. Gutierrez was charged with driving while intoxicated and malicious mischief. The traffic agent in the van sustained minor injuries, police said.

Liquor lifterMichael Baxter, 48, who was arrested on Sun., June 22, for stealing six bottles of liquor from the basement of Negril Village, 70 W. Third St., pleaded guilty to larceny on Fri., June 27, and was sentenced to 30 days in jail, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. Baxter had made his way into the restaurant basement at 1:30 a.m. and was spotted by an employee, who called police, who arrested him carrying the bottles.

Broadway gunplayPolice responded to a report of shots being fired into a group of people outside the Soup ’n’ Burger diner on Broadway at Astor Place around 5:30 a.m. Sat., June 28. When officers arrived, the people were gone but several bullet shell casings were found at the scene. Later that morning, a woman walked into the emergency room of Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn with a minor ankle injury and said she was outside the diner when one of the shots grazed her ankle.

Soho stab threatA Brooklyn woman, 22, was sitting in front of 472 Broome St. between Greene and Wooster Sts. at 2:53 a.m. Fri., June 6, when three men approached, took her bag and fled, police said. The victim chased them and grabbed one suspect by the shirt. The robber then pulled a knife and said, “Let me go or I’m going to stab you,” police said. The three suspects fled north on Greene St.

NunchuckedA man waiting for a cab on Sixth Ave. near Spring St. shortly after 11 p.m. Sun., June 22, was attacked by a man with nunchucks — the martial arts weapon consisting of two sticks linked end to end by a short chain or rope — police said. The suspect, described as a 6-foot-2-inch-tall black man with a goatee, weighing about 190 pounds and wearing a white shirt, said, “What are you looking at?” before striking the victim, police said. The victim sustained minor but painful injuries.

Brawny bike thiefPolice arrested Carl Hollingsworth, 47, at 12:45 a.m. Wed., June 25, for trying to steal two bicycles chained at the corner of Grand St. and West Broadway. Police charged the suspect with larceny, possession of burglar’s tools, assaulting the arresting officers and criminal mischief. The suspect pushed the officers, and after being put in the patrol car, he kicked the rear door so hard it came off its hinges, according to reports.

Wylde womanThe surveillance camera at Amalga boutique, 114 Wooster St., caught the image of a woman who took a black Thomas Wylde bag valued at $1,900 and walked out without paying for it on Monday evening June 23, police said.

Truck takes a tripA truck belonging to Big A Ironworks that was stolen from a construction site at 231 Hudson St. near Broome St. at 3:30 p.m. Tues., June 17, was found in the 25th Police Precinct in East Harlem the next day, police said.

Motorcycle missingA man who parked his motorcycle in front of 64 Mercer St. at Broome St. on Sunday evening June 15, returned at 11 p.m. and found it had been stolen, police said.

False tax documentsThe real estate firm, 59 Realty Associates LP, owner of a parking garage with other commercial tenants at 59-63 Allen St. between Hester and Grand Sts., pleaded guilty on Thurs., June 26, to filing false city tax documents, according to D.A. Morgenthau. The firm reported income from the garage but not from the other tenants, resulting in a lower tax assessment between 1999 and 2005, the district attorney said.

Despite the lower assessment, the real estate firm appealed, and during the investigation, the Tax Commission discovered that the reports were false, according to the charges.

Because of the fraud, the firm avoided about $30,000 in taxes for each of the seven years, the district attorney said. Nevertheless, under current law, the Tax Commission can only lower an assessment on appeal and cannot increase it, even if the appeal has false information. There was no plea from any individual and the firm has agreed to pay the maximum fine of $20,000. The district attorney is seeking state legislative changes that would allow the Tax Commission to raise an assessment if it has been undervalued based on false information.